The Department of Chemistry is preparing for its first offering of their newly minted general bachelor of science and bachelor of science (honours) computational chemistry degree programs.

Joining a relatively short list of similar programs across the country, Memorial's computational chemistry degree programs stands apart from the other available programs in the approach of training students in computational chemistry.

"These programs were carefully crafted to ensure that students not only get a strong education in chemistry and mathematics, but also a strong background in computer science with an emphasis in developing programming skills," said Dr. Peter Warburton, a member of the team that developed the degree programs."Training students in how to use computational chemistry software is obviously of benefit to both students and research, but we felt it was just as important for the graduates of these degree programs to be able to develop the next generation of computational chemistry software packages and the underlying theory that goes along with that."

By ensuring a robust mix of chemistry, mathematics and computer science courses, graduates of these degree programs will be prepared to enter industrial or academic positions in a wide variety of fields where computational chemistry has been emerging as a powerful tool of study.

"In addition to the software development side of things, graduates of the program will be able to contribute to the fields of computational drug and materials design, mechanistic studies of chemical reactions, and a wide variety of other applications," said Dr. Warburton.

The university calendar contains details about both the major and honours degree programs, and more information can be found in the department's online undergraduate handbook.

"Ultimately these programs should be of interest to students with a strong interest in chemistry and math or chemistry and computers, who are looking for a means to explore a career that makes extensive use of their interests," said Dr. Warburton. "I think it's fair to say that our faculty members in the theoretical/computational chemistry specialties are really looking forward to working with the students in these programs."